Zurich, photo by Eric Weber on Unsplash

What a month this has been! Keep safe! In case you missed out on March episodes of Voice of FinTech podcast, here is the monthly recap, happy to distract you! You can listen to all the episodes on the Episodes pages of this website or when you subscribe to your favorite podcast apps under Subscribe.

MassChallenge Lausanne: A million francs for you?

with Matt Lashmar in Lausanne, Switzerland

In this episode, we talked to Matt Lashmar, Managing Director of MassChallenge, Switzerland. He explained the origins of MassChallenge, how they differ from other accelerators, how to apply, how start-ups can benefit from the program (access to the corporate sponsors and prize money of a million Swiss Francs!) and their success stories. Their program continues, leveraging the remote working technologies!

Terra Ventures: A sneak peek into Israeli VC mindset

with Astorre Modena in Zurich, Switzerland

We caught up with Astorre Modena, General Partner at Terra Venture Partners, Israel, on the side of Startup Funding — VC Talks in Zurich, organized by FinTech Connector. We talk about the Terra Venture Partners investment approach. He also explains Israeli government’s support of innovation, his views on the art of startup valuation and fundraising and Israeli-Swiss VC and start-up connectivity.

Founder story: Who is the best research analyst? Invisage has the answer

with Harsh Dadhich in Zurich, Switzerland

How do you assess the research analyst performance in the MiFID II world? COO of UK based start-up Invisage and the member of the F10 Incubator/Accelerator Zurich current cohort, Harsh Dadhich, explains in this podcast. Are popularity rankings useful at all? Or should the returns on your portfolio, constructed based on the analyst’s research drive whose research you should read? How do you find out ex-ante though? Invisage’s slogan is

“from research complexity to investment clarity”

Harsh explained the importance of research in the active asset management and Invisage’s solution for the buy-side.

Financial Markets Technology: VC perspective

with Mark Beston from London

We talked to Mark Beeston, founder and Managing Partner of Illuminate Financial, London, headquartered VC firm with a global mandate, about their investment approach, success stories and views on the Capital Markets FinTech as well as WealthTech and Asset Management Tech companies scene in Europe and globally. Mark Beeston is the founder and Managing Partner of Illuminate Financial, based in London and New York, with a global mandate. Illuminate is a VC firm backing technology companies solving problems in the Capital Markets, Wealth Management and Asset Management.

Swiss FinTech Awards 2020  -  and the winners are…

Oliver Bussmann, Andy Iten, Daniel Sandmeier, David Bloch and their teams in Zurich, Switzerland

In this bonus episode, we talked with:

Oliver Bussmann, CEO and founder of Bussmann Advisory, jury member of the Swiss FinTech Awards, about Digital Transformation in Banking, FinTech start-up community, Blockchain and his views on the finalists this year and the winners of Swiss FinTech Awards 2020. Oliver Bussmann, CEO and founder of Bussmann Advisory, is a well respected FinTech influencer in the German-speaking world. Oliver explains his advisory services to the corporates:

There is a generational change of the CEOs, who understand that the industry is going through a massive business model, operational model and structural change. Somebody who went through strategy and execution changes and is well connected to the FinTech start-up community is very helpful to guide them.

Further in the podcast, Oliver explains also his advice on digital transformation to Private Equity investors, activities in the blockchain world and his perspectives on the Awards winners as a juror.

Andy Iten, co-founder and member of the Board, F10, Switzerland’s only FinTech focused incubator and accelerator. We talk about the start of the incubation program in Singapore, an online version of the F10 Hackathon in Zurich this year, which is used to attract and source teams for the next batch of the program of the F10, cooperation with the corporate members. F10 is now also receiving applications for its Scale-Up Program in Zurich.

Daniel Sandmeier, CEO of Instimatch, explains how his platform brings together institutions that have excess cash deposits or need cash, replacing the traditional voice or chatroom markets.

David Bloch, CEO and co-founder of Legartis, is a lawyer. David makes life easier for lawyers and corporate clients by taking out the routine work from the contract review by leveraging the AI and allowing humans to focus on more value-added tasks.

Finovate Berlin

Greg Palmer and Myles Stephenson at Finovate Berlin

In this episode, we spoke to Greg Palmer, VP at Finovate, based in San Francisco, a leader in FinTech conferences around the world about the Berlin edition that took place in February. Also, we talked about Finovate’s concept that varies across the globe and plans for San Francisco, New York and Asian editions, updated for the current situation around the COVID-19. We then spoke to Myles Stephenson, CEO of Modulr, London based, integrated payment service for businesses about Copernican Leap in banking, direct connectivity of FinTechs to Bank of England and Modulr’s growth plans.

Greg Palmer is VP at Finovate, Host of Finovate Podcast, Director of Fintech Strategy at Informa Connect and contributor at Banking Technology, based in San Francisco, USA. Check out video demos of the startups presenting in Berlin here, for example, with a leading Swiss RegTech company Apiax, here. You can also check out Voice of FinTech podcast with Apiax here.

Myles Stephenson, CEO of Modulr is an Oxford University alumnus and a seasoned executive in the Payments space based in London, UK. Check out Modulr’s developer portal and sandbox on their website.

Founder story: Last mile in data analytics with Luminant Analytics

with Renu Ann Joseph from Basel

In this episode, Renu Ann Joseph, founder and CEO of Luminant Analytics, a Swiss-American InsurTech start-up, talked about the “last mile” when it comes to using data science and data analytics in the insurance industry. We also talked about the benefits of open innovation for both insurers and InsurTechs. Renu also shares some early thoughts on the impact of the COVID-19 on the start-ups and the insurance industry. Proud alumni of the F10 2018 acceleration program. Based in Basel, Switzerland and Hartford, CT, United States.

If you have suggestions for topics or guests on the show or have ideas about how to make a podcast better for you, please e-mail us at info@voiceoffintech.com.